Japanese Fairy TalesOzaki, Yei Theodora

Published: 1908Categorie(s): Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Mythology,Short StoriesSource: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4018

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About Ozaki:Yei Theodora Ozaki was an early 20th century translator of Japanese

short stories and fairy tales. Her translations were fairly liberal but havebeen popular, and were reprinted several times after her death. Accord-ing to "A Biographical Sketch" by Mrs. Hugh Fraser, included in the in-troductory material to Warriors of old Japan, and other stories, Ozakicame from an unusual background. She was the daughter of Baron Oza-ki, one of the first Japanese men to study in the West, and Bathia Cather-ine Morrison, daughter of William Morrison, one of their teachers. Herparents separated after five years of marriage, and her mother retainedcustody of their three daughters until they became teenagers. At thattime, Yei was sent to live in Japan with her father, which she enjoyed.Later she refused an arranged marriage, left her father's house, and be-came a teacher and secretary to earn money. Over the years, she traveledback and forth between Japan and Europe, as her employment and fam-ily duties took her, and lived in places as diverse as Italy and the draftyupper floor of a Buddhist temple. All this time, her letters were fre-quently misdelivered to the unrelated Japanese politician Yukio Ozaki,and his to her. In 1904, they finally met, and soon married.

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TOELEANOR MARION-CRAWFORD.

I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO YOU AND TO THE SWEET CHILD-FRIENDSHIP THAT YOU GAVE ME IN THE DAYS SPENT WITH YOUBY THE SOUTHERN SEA, WHEN YOU USED TO LISTEN WITHUNFEIGNED PLEASURE TO THESE FAIRY STORIES FROM FARJAPAN. MAY THEY NOW REMIND YOU OF MY CHANGELESSLOVE AND REMEMBRANCE.

Y. T. O.Tokio, 1908.

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PREFACE.

This collection of Japanese fairy tales is the outcome of a suggestionmade to me indirectly through a friend by Mr. Andrew Lang. They havebeen translated from the modern version written by Sadanami Sanjin.These stories are not literal translations, and though the Japanese storyand all quaint Japanese expressions have been faithfully preserved, theyhave been told more with the view to interest young readers of the Westthan the technical student of folk-lore.

Grateful acknowledgment is due to Mr. Y. Yasuoka, Miss FusaOkamoto, my brother Nobumori Ozaki, Dr. Yoshihiro Takaki, and MissKameko Yamao, who have helped me with translations.

The story which I have named "The Story of the Man who did notWish to Die" is taken from a little book written a hundred years ago byone Shinsui Tamenaga. It is named Chosei Furo, or "Longevity." "TheBamboo-cutter and the Moon-child" is taken from the classic "TaketariMonogatari," and is NOT classed by the Japanese among their fairy tales,though it really belongs to this class of literature.

The pictures were drawn by Mr. Kakuzo Fujiyama, a Tokio artist.In telling these stories in English I have followed my fancy in adding

such touches of local color or description as they seemed to need or aspleased me, and in one or two instances I have gathered in an incidentfrom another version. At all times, among my friends, both young andold, English or American, I have always found eager listeners to thebeautiful legends and fairy tales of Japan, and in telling them I have alsofound that they were still unknown to the vast majority, and this has en-couraged me to write them for the children of the West.Y. T. O.Tokio, 1908.

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MY LORD BAG OF RICE.

Long, long ago there lived, in Japan a brave warrior known to all asTawara Toda, or "My Lord Bag of Rice." His true name was FujiwaraHidesato, and there is a very interesting story of how he came to changehis name.

One day he sallied forth in search of adventures, for he had the natureof a warrior and could not bear to be idle. So he buckled on his twoswords, took his huge bow, much taller than himself, in his hand, andslinging his quiver on his back started out. He had not gone far when hecame to the bridge of Seta-no-Karashi spanning one end of the beautifulLake Biwa. No sooner had he set foot on the bridge than he saw lyingright across his path a huge serpent-dragon. Its body was so big that itlooked like the trunk of a large pine tree and it took up the whole widthof the bridge. One of its huge claws rested on the parapet of one side ofthe bridge, while its tail lay right against the other. The monster seemedto be asleep, and as it breathed, fire and smoke came out of its nostrils.

At first Hidesato could not help feeling alarmed at the sight of thishorrible reptile lying in his path, for he must either turn back or walkright over its body. He was a brave man, however, and putting aside allfear went forward dauntlessly. Crunch, crunch! he stepped now on thedragon's body, now between its coils, and without even one glance back-ward he went on his way.

He had only gone a few steps when he heard some one calling himfrom behind. On turning back he was much surprised to see that themonster dragon had entirely disappeared and in its place was a strange-looking man, who was bowing most ceremoniously to the ground. Hisred hair streamed over his shoulders and was surmounted by a crown inthe shape of a dragon's head, and his sea-green dress was patterned withshells. Hidesato knew at once that this was no ordinary mortal and hewondered much at the strange occurrence. Where had the dragon gonein such a short space of time? Or had it transformed itself into this man,and what did the whole thing mean? While these thoughts passedthrough his mind he had come up to the man on the bridge and now ad-dressed him:

"Was it you that called me just now?""Yes, it was I," answered the man: "I have an earnest request to make

to you. Do you think you can grant it to me?""If it is in my power to do so I will," answered Hidesato, "but first tell

me who you are?"

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"I am the Dragon King of the Lake, and my home is in these watersjust under this bridge."

"And what is it you have to ask of me!" said Hidesato."I want you to kill my mortal enemy the centipede, who lives on the

mountain beyond," and the Dragon King pointed to a high peak on theopposite shore of the lake.

"I have lived now for many years in this lake and I have a large familyof children and grand-children. For some time past we have lived in ter-ror, for a monster centipede has discovered our home, and night afternight it comes and carries off one of my family. I am powerless to savethem. If it goes on much longer like this, not only shall I lose all my chil-dren, but I myself must fall a victim to the monster. I am, therefore, veryunhappy, and in my extremity I determined to ask the help of a humanbeing. For many days with this intention I have waited on the bridge inthe shape of the horrible serpent-dragon that you saw, in the hope thatsome strong brave man would come along. But all who came this way,as soon as they saw me were terrified and ran away as fast as they could.You are the first man I have found able to look at me without fear, so Iknew at once that you were a man of great courage. I beg you to havepity upon me. Will you not help me and kill my enemy the centipede?"

Hidesato felt very sorry for the Dragon King on hearing his story, andreadily promised to do what he could to help him. The warrior askedwhere the centipede lived, so that he might attack the creature at once.The Dragon King replied that its home was on the mountain Mikami, butthat as it came every night at a certain hour to the palace of the lake, itwould be better to wait till then. So Hidesato was conducted to thepalace of the Dragon King, under the bridge. Strange to say, as he fol-lowed his host downwards the waters parted to let them pass, and hisclothes did not even feel damp as he passed through the flood. Neverhad Hidesato seen anything so beautiful as this palace built of whitemarble beneath the lake. He had often heard of the Sea King's palace atthe bottom of the sea, where all the servants and retainers were salt-wa-ter fishes, but here was a magnificent building in the heart of Lake Biwa.The dainty goldfishes, red carp, and silvery trout, waited upon theDragon King and his guest.

Hidesato was astonished at the feast that was spread for him. Thedishes were crystallized lotus leaves and flowers, and the chopstickswere of the rarest ebony. As soon as they sat down, the sliding doorsopened and ten lovely goldfish dancers came out, and behind them fol-lowed ten red-carp musicians with the koto and the samisen. Thus the

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hours flew by till midnight, and the beautiful music and dancing hadbanished all thoughts of the centipede. The Dragon King was about topledge the warrior in a fresh cup of wine when the palace was suddenlyshaken by a tramp, tramp! as if a mighty army had begun to march notfar away.

Hidesato and his host both rose to their feet and rushed to the balcony,and the warrior saw on the opposite mountain two great balls of glowingfire coming nearer and nearer. The Dragon King stood by the warrior'sside trembling with fear.

"The centipede! The centipede! Those two balls of fire are its eyes. It iscoming for its prey! Now is the time to kill it."

Hidesato looked where his host pointed, and, in the dim light of thestarlit evening, behind the two balls of fire he saw the long body of anenormous centipede winding round the mountains, and the light in itshundred feet glowed like so many distant lanterns moving slowly to-wards the shore.

Hidesato showed not the least sign of fear. He tried to calm theDragon King.

"Don't be afraid. I shall surely kill the centipede. Just bring me my bowand arrows."

The Dragon King did as he was bid, and the warrior noticed that hehad only three arrows left in his quiver. He took the bow, and fitting anarrow to the notch, took careful aim and let fly.

The arrow hit the centipede right in the middle of its head, but insteadof penetrating, it glanced off harmless and fell to the ground.

Nothing daunted, Hidesato took another arrow, fitted it to the notch ofthe bow and let fly. Again the arrow hit the mark, it struck the centipederight in the middle of its head, only to glance off and fall to the ground.The centipede was invulnerable to weapons! When the Dragon King sawthat even this brave warrior's arrows were powerless to kill the centi-pede, he lost heart and began to tremble with fear.

The warrior saw that he had now only one arrow left in his quiver,and if this one failed he could not kill the centipede. He looked across thewaters. The huge reptile had wound its horrid body seven times roundthe mountain and would soon come down to the lake. Nearer and nearergleamed fireballs of eyes, and the light of its hundred feet began tothrow reflections in the still waters of the lake.

Then suddenly the warrior remembered that he had heard that humansaliva was deadly to centipedes. But this was no ordinary centipede. Thiswas so monstrous that even to think of such a creature made one creep

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with horror. Hidesato determined to try his last chance. So taking his lastarrow and first putting the end of it in his mouth, he fitted the notch tohis bow, took careful aim once more and let fly.

This time the arrow again hit the centipede right in the middle of itshead, but instead of glancing off harmlessly as before, it struck home tothe creature's brain. Then with a convulsive shudder the serpentine bodystopped moving, and the fiery light of its great eyes and hundred feetdarkened to a dull glare like the sunset of a stormy day, and then wentout in blackness. A great darkness now overspread the heavens, thethunder rolled and the lightning flashed, and the wind roared in fury,and it seemed as if the world were coming to an end. The Dragon Kingand his children and retainers all crouched in different parts of thepalace, frightened to death, for the building was shaken to its founda-tion. At last the dreadful night was over. Day dawned beautiful andclear. The centipede was gone from the mountain.

Then Hidesato called to the Dragon King to come out with him on thebalcony, for the centipede was dead and he had nothing more to fear.

Then all the inhabitants of the palace came out with joy, and Hidesatopointed to the lake. There lay the body of the dead centipede floating onthe water, which was dyed red with its blood.

The gratitude of the Dragon King knew no bounds. The whole familycame and bowed down before the warrior, calling him their preserverand the bravest warrior in all Japan.

Another feast was prepared, more sumptuous than the first. All kindsof fish, prepared in every imaginable way, raw, stewed, boiled and roas-ted, served on coral trays and crystal dishes, were put before him, andthe wine was the best that Hidesato had ever tasted in his life. To add tothe beauty of everything the sun shone brightly, the lake glittered like aliquid diamond, and the palace was a thousand times more beautiful byday than by night.

His host tried to persuade the warrior to stay a few days, but Hidesatoinsisted on going home, saying that he had now finished what he hadcome to do, and must return. The Dragon King and his family were allvery sorry to have him leave so soon, but since he would go they beggedhim to accept a few small presents (so they said) in token of their gratit-ude to him for delivering them forever from their horrible enemy thecentipede.

As the warrior stood in the porch taking leave, a train of fish was sud-denly transformed into a retinue of men, all wearing ceremonial robes

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and dragon's crowns on their heads to show that they were servants ofthe great Dragon King. The presents that they carried were as follows:

First, a large bronze bell.Second, a bag of rice.Third, a roll of silk.Fourth, a cooking pot.Fifth, a bell.

Hidesato did not want to accept all these presents, but as the DragonKing insisted, he could not well refuse.

The Dragon King himself accompanied the warrior as far as thebridge, and then took leave of him with many bows and good wishes,leaving the procession of servants to accompany Hidesato to his housewith the presents.

The warrior's household and servants had been very much concernedwhen they found that he did not return the night before, but they finallyconcluded that he had been kept by the violent storm and had takenshelter somewhere. When the servants on the watch for his return caughtsight of him they called to every one that he was approaching, and thewhole household turned out to meet him, wondering much what the ret-inue of men, bearing presents and banners, that followed him, couldmean.

As soon as the Dragon King's retainers had put down the presentsthey vanished, and Hidesato told all that had happened to him.

The presents which he had received from the grateful Dragon Kingwere found to be of magic power. The bell only was ordinary, and asHidesato had no use for it he presented it to the temple near by, where itwas hung up, to boom out the hour of day over the surroundingneighborhood.

The single bag of rice, however much was taken from it day after dayfor the meals of the knight and his whole family, never grew lessthesupply in the bag was inexhaustible.

The roll of silk, too, never grew shorter, though time after time longpieces were cut off to make the warrior a new suit of clothes to go toCourt in at the New Year.

The cooking pot was wonderful, too. No matter what was put into it, itcooked deliciously whatever was wanted without any firingtruly avery economical saucepan.

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The fame of Hidesato's fortune spread far and wide, and as there wasno need for him to spend money on rice or silk or firing, he became veryrich and prosperous, and was henceforth known as My Lord Bag of Rice.

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THE TONGUE-CUT SPARROW.

Long, long ago in Japan there lived an old man and his wife. The oldman was a good, kind-hearted, hard-working old fellow, but his wifewas a regular cross-patch, who spoiled the happiness of her home by herscolding tongue. She was always grumbling about something frommorning to night. The old man had for a long time ceased to take any no-tice of her crossness. He was out most of the day at work in the fields,and as he had no child, for his amusement when he came home, he kepta tame sparrow. He loved the little bird just as much as if she had beenhis child.

When he came back at night after his hard day's work in the open air itwas his only pleasure to pet the sparrow, to talk to her and to teach herlittle tricks, which she learned very quickly. The old man would openher cage and let her fly about the room, and they would play together.Then when supper-time came, he always saved some tit-bits from hismeal with which to feed his little bird.

Now one day the old man went out to chop wood in the forest, andthe old woman stopped at home to wash clothes. The day before, shehad made some starch, and now when she came to look for it, it was allgone; the bowl which she had filled full yesterday was quite empty.

While she was wondering who could have used or stolen the starch,down flew the pet sparrow, and bowing her little feathered heada trickwhich she had been taught by her masterthe pretty bird chirped andsaid:

"It is I who have taken the starch. I thought it was some food put outfor me in that basin, and I ate it all. If I have made a mistake I beg you toforgive me! tweet, tweet, tweet!"

You see from this that the sparrow was a truthful bird, and the old wo-man ought to have been willing to forgive her at once when she askedher pardon so nicely. But not so.

The old woman had never loved the sparrow, and had often quarreledwith her husband for keeping what she called a dirty bird about thehouse, saying that it only made extra work for her. Now she was onlytoo delighted to have some cause of complaint against the pet. She scol-ded and even cursed the poor little bird for her bad behavior, and notcontent with using these harsh, unfeeling words, in a fit of rage sheseized the sparrowwho all this time had spread out her wings andbowed her head before the old woman, to show how sorry she wasandfetched the scissors and cut off the poor little bird's tongue.

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"I suppose you took my starch with that tongue! Now you may seewhat it is like to go without it!" And with these dreadful words shedrove the bird away, not caring in the least what might happen to it andwithout the smallest pity for its suffering, so unkind was she!

The old woman, after she had driven the sparrow away, made somemore rice-paste, grumbling all the time at the trouble, and after starchingall her clothes, spread the things on boards to dry in the sun, instead ofironing them as they do in England.

In the evening the old man came home. As usual, on the way back helooked forward to the time when he should reach his gate and see his petcome flying and chirping to meet him, ruffling out her feathers to showher joy, and at last coming to rest on his shoulder. But to-night the oldman was very disappointed, for not even the shadow of his dear spar-row was to be seen.

He quickened his steps, hastily drew off his straw sandals, andstepped on to the veranda. Still no sparrow was to be seen. He now feltsure that his wife, in one of her cross tempers, had shut the sparrow upin its cage. So he called her and said anxiously:

"Where is Suzume San (Miss Sparrow) today?"The old woman pretended not to know at first, and answered:"Your sparrow? I am sure I don't know. Now I come to think of it, I

haven't seen her all the afternoon. I shouldn't wonder if the ungratefulbird had flown away and left you after all your petting!"

But at last, when the old man gave her no peace, but asked her againand again, insisting that she must know what had happened to his pet,she confessed all. She told him crossly how the sparrow had eaten therice-paste she had specially made for starching her clothes, and howwhen the sparrow had confessed to what she had done, in great angershe had taken her scissors and cut out her tongue, and how finally shehad driven the bird away and forbidden her to return to the house again.

Then the old woman showed her husband the sparrow's tongue,saying:

"Here is the tongue I cut off! Horrid little bird, why did it eat all mystarch?"

"How could you be so cruel? Oh! how could you so cruel?" was all thatthe old man could answer. He was too kind-hearted to punish his beshrew of a wife, but he was terribly distressed at what had happened tohis poor little sparrow.

"What a dreadful misfortune for my poor Suzume San to lose hertongue!" he said to himself. "She won't be able to chirp any more, and

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surely the pain of the cutting of it out in that rough way must have madeher ill! Is there nothing to be done?"

The old man shed many tears after his cross wife had gone to sleep.While he wiped away the tears with the sleeve of his cotton robe, abright thought comforted him: he would go and look for the sparrow onthe morrow. Having decided this he was able to go to sleep at last.

The next morning he rose early, as soon as ever the day broke, andsnatching a hasty breakfast, started out over the hills and through thewoods, stopping at every clump of bamboos to cry:

"Where, oh where does my tongue-cut sparrow stay? Where, ohwhere, does my tongue-cut sparrow stay!"

He never stopped to rest for his noonday meal, and it was far on in theafternoon when he found himself near a large bamboo wood. Bamboogroves are the favorite haunts of sparrows, and there sure enough at theedge of the wood he saw his own dear sparrow waiting to welcome him.He could hardly believe his eyes for joy, and ran forward quickly togreet her. She bowed her little head and went through a number of thetricks her master had taught her, to show her pleasure at seeing her oldfriend again, and, wonderful to relate, she could talk as of old. The oldman told her how sorry he was for all that had happened, and inquiredafter her tongue, wondering how she could speak so well without it.Then the sparrow opened her beak and showed him that a new tonguehad grown in place of the old one, and begged him not to think anymore about the past, for she was quite well now. Then the old man knewthat his sparrow was a fairy, and no common bird. It would be difficultto exaggerate the old man's rejoicing now. He forgot all his troubles, heforgot even how tired he was, for he had found his lost sparrow, and in-stead of being ill and without a tongue as he had feared and expected tofind her, she was well and happy and with a new tongue, and without asign of the ill-treatment she had received from his wife. And above allshe was a fairy.

The sparrow asked him to follow her, and flying before him she ledhim to a beautiful house in the heart of the bamboo grove. The old manwas utterly astonished when he entered the house to find what a beauti-ful place it was. It was built of the whitest wood, the soft cream-coloredmats which took the place of carpets were the finest he had ever seen,and the cushions that the sparrow brought out for him to sit on weremade of the finest silk and crape. Beautiful vases and lacquer boxes ad-orned the tokonoma1 of every room.1.An alcove where precious objects are displayed.

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The sparrow led the old man to the place of honor, and then, takingher place at a humble distance, she thanked him with many polite bowsfor all the kindness he had shown her for many long years.

Then the Lady Sparrow, as we will now call her, introduced all herfamily to the old man. This done, her daughters, robed in dainty crapegowns, brought in on beautiful old-fashioned trays a feast of all kinds ofdelicious foods, till the old man began to think he must be dreaming. Inthe middle of the dinner some of the sparrow's daughters performed awonderful dance, called the "suzume-odori" or the "Sparrow's dance," toamuse the guest.

Never had the old man enjoyed himself so much. The hours flew bytoo quickly in this lovely spot, with all these fairy sparrows to wait uponhim and to feast him and to dance before him.

But the night came on and the darkness reminded him that he had along way to go and must think about taking his leave and return home.He thanked his kind hostess for her splendid entertainment, and beggedher for his sake to forget all she had suffered at the hands of his cross oldwife. He told the Lady Sparrow that it was a great comfort and happi-ness to him to find her in such a beautiful home and to know that shewanted for nothing. It was his anxiety to know how she fared and whathad really happened to her that had led him to seek her. Now he knewthat all was well he could return home with a light heart. If ever shewanted him for anything she had only to send for him and he wouldcome at once.

The Lady Sparrow begged him to stay and rest several days and enjoythe change, but the old man said he must return to his old wifewhowould probably be cross at his not coming home at the usual timeandto his work, and there-fore, much as he wished to do so, he could not ac-cept her kind invitation. But now that he knew where the Lady Sparrowlived he would come to see her whenever he had the time.

When the Lady Sparrow saw that she could not persuade the old manto stay longer, she gave an order to some of her servants, and they atonce brought in two boxes, one large and the other small. These wereplaced before the old man, and the Lady Sparrow asked him to choosewhichever he liked for a present, which she wished to give him.

The old man could not refuse this kind proposal, and he chose thesmaller box, saying:

"I am now too old and feeble to carry the big and heavy box. As youare so kind as to say that I may take whichever I like, I will choose thesmall one, which will be easier for me to carry."

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Then the sparrows all helped him put it on his back and went to thegate to see him off, bidding him good-by with many bows and entreat-ing him to come again whenever he had the time. Thus the old man andhis pet sparrow separated quite happily, the sparrow showing not theleast ill-will for all the unkindness she had suffered at the hands of theold wife. Indeed, she only felt sorrow for the old man who had to put upwith it all his life.

When the old man reached home he found his wife even crosser thanusual, for it was late on in the night and she had been waiting up for himfor a long time.

"Where have you been all this time?" she asked in a big voice. "Why doyou come back so late?"

The old man tried to pacify her by showing her the box of presents hehad brought back with him, and then he told her of all that hadhappened to him, and how wonderfully he had been entertained at thesparrow's house.

"Now let us see what is in the box," said the old man, not giving hertime to grumble again. "You must help me open it." And they both satdown before the box and opened it.

To their utter astonishment they found the box filled to the brim withgold and silver coins and many other precious things. The mats of theirlittle cottage fairly glittered as they took out the things one by one andput them down and handled them over and over again. The old manwas overjoyed at the sight of the riches that were now his. Beyond hisbrightest expectations was the sparrow's gift, which would enable him togive up work and live in ease and comfort the rest of his days.

He said: "Thanks to my good little sparrow! Thanks to my good littlesparrow!" many times.

But the old woman, after the first moments of surprise and satisfactionat the sight of the gold and silver were over, could not suppress thegreed of her wicked nature. She now began to reproach the old man fornot having brought home the big box of presents, for in the innocence ofhis heart he had told her how he had refused the large box of presentswhich the sparrows had offered him, preferring the smaller one becauseit was light and easy to carry home.

"You silly old man," said she, "Why did you not bring the large box?Just think what we have lost. We might have had twice as much silverand gold as this. You are certainly an old fool!" she screamed, and thenwent to bed as angry as she could be.

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The old man now wished that he had said nothing about the big box,but it was too late; the greedy old woman, not contented with the goodluck which had so unexpectedly befallen them and which she so little de-served, made up her mind, if possible, to get more.

Early the next morning she got up and made the old man describe theway to the sparrow's house. When he saw what was in her mind he triedto keep her from going, but it was useless. She would not listen to oneword he said. It is strange that the old woman did not feel ashamed ofgoing to see the sparrow after the cruel way she had treated her in cut-ting off her tongue in a fit of rage. But her greed to get the big box madeher forget everything else. It did not even enter her thoughts that thesparrows might be angry with heras, indeed, they wereand mightpunish her for what she had done.

Ever since the Lady Sparrow had returned home in the sad plight inwhich they had first found her, weeping and bleeding from the mouth,her whole family and relations had done little else but speak of thecruelty of the old woman. "How could she," they asked each other,"inflict such a heavy punishment for such a trifling offense as that of eat-ing some rice-paste by mistake?" They all loved the old man who was sokind and good and patient under all his troubles, but the old womanthey hated, and they determined, if ever they had the chance, to punishher as she deserved. They had not long to wait.

After walking for some hours the old woman had at last found thebamboo grove which she had made her husband carefully describe, andnow she stood before it crying out:

"Where is the tongue-cut sparrow's house? Where is the tongue-cutsparrow's house?"

At last she saw the eaves of the house peeping out from amongst thebamboo foliage. She hastened to the door and knocked loudly.

When the servants told the Lady Sparrow that her old mistress was atthe door asking to see her, she was somewhat surprised at the unexpec-ted visit, after all that had taken place, and she wondered not a little atthe boldness of the old woman in venturing to come to the house. TheLady Sparrow, however, was a polite bird, and so she went out to greetthe old woman, remembering that she had once been her mistress.

The old woman intended, however, to waste no time in words, shewent right to the point, without the least shame, and said:

"You need not trouble to entertain me as you did my old man. I havecome myself to get the box which he so stupidly left behind. I shall soontake my leave if you will give me the big boxthat is all I want!"

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The Lady Sparrow at once consented, and told her servants to bringout the big box. The old woman eagerly seized it and hoisted it on herback, and without even stopping to thank the Lady Sparrow began tohurry homewards.

The box was so heavy that she could not walk fast, much less run, asshe would have liked to do, so anxious was she to get home and seewhat was inside the box, but she had often to sit down and rest herselfby the way.

While she was staggering along under the heavy load, her desire toopen the box became too great to be resisted. She could wait no longer,for she supposed this big box to be full of gold and silver and preciousjewels like the small one her husband had received.

At last this greedy and selfish old woman put down the box by thewayside and opened it carefully, expecting to gloat her eyes on a mine ofwealth. What she saw, however, so terrified her that she nearly lost hersenses. As soon as she lifted the lid, a number of horrible and frightfullooking demons bounced out of the box and surrounded her as if theyintended to kill her. Not even in nightmares had she ever seen such hor-rible creatures as her much-coveted box contained. A demon with onehuge eye right in the middle of its forehead came and glared at her, mon-sters with gaping mouths looked as if they would devour her, a hugesnake coiled and hissed about her, and a big frog hopped and croakedtowards her.

The old woman had never been so frightened in her life, and ran fromthe spot as fast as her quaking legs would carry her, glad to escape alive.When she reached home she fell to the floor and told her husband withtears all that had happened to her, and how she had been nearly killedby the demons in the box.

Then she began to blame the sparrow, but the old man stopped her atonce, saying:

"Don't blame the sparrow, it is your wickedness which has at last metwith its reward. I only hope this may be a lesson to you in the future!"

The old woman said nothing more, and from that day she repented ofher cross, unkind ways, and by degrees became a good old woman, sothat her husband hardly knew her to be the same person, and they spenttheir last days together happily, free from want or care, spending care-fully the treasure the old man had received from his pet, the tongue-cutsparrow.

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THE STORY OF URASHIMA TARO, THE FISHER LAD.

Long, long ago in the province of Tango there lived on the shore of Japanin the little fishing village of Mizu-no-ye a young fisherman namedUrashima Taro. His father had been a fisherman before him, and his skillhad more than doubly descended to his son, for Urashima was the mostskillful fisher in all that country side, and could catch more Bonito andTai in a day than his comrades could in a week.

But in the little fishing village, more than for being a clever fisher ofthe sea was he known for his kind heart. In his whole life he had neverhurt anything, either great or small, and when a boy, his companionshad always laughed at him, for he would never join with them in teasinganimals, but always tried to keep them from this cruel sport.

One soft summer twilight he was going home at the end of a day'sfishing when he came upon a group of children. They were all screamingand talking at the tops of their voices, and seemed to be in a state of greatexcitement about something, and on his going up to them to see whatwas the matter he saw that they were tormenting a tortoise. First one boypulled it this way, then another boy pulled it that way, while a thirdchild beat it with a stick, and the fourth hammered its shell with a stone.

Now Urashima felt very sorry for the poor tortoise and made up hismind to rescue it. He spoke to the boys:

"Look here, boys, you are treating that poor tortoise so badly that itwill soon die!"

The boys, who were all of an age when children seem to delight in be-ing cruel to animals, took no notice of Urashima's gentle reproof, butwent on teasing it as before. One of the older boys answered:

"Who cares whether it lives or dies? We do not. Here, boys, go on, goon!"

And they began to treat the poor tortoise more cruelly than ever.Urashima waited a moment, turning over in his mind what would be thebest way to deal with the boys. He would try to persuade them to givethe tortoise up to him, so he smiled at them and said:

"I am sure you are all good, kind boys! Now won't you give me thetortoise? I should like to have it so much!"

"No, we won't give you the tortoise," said one of the boys. "Whyshould we? We caught it ourselves."

"What you say is true," said Urashima, "but I do not ask you to give itto me for nothing. I will give you some money for itin other words, theOjisan (Uncle) will buy it of you. Won't that do for you, my boys?" He

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held up the money to them, strung on a piece of string through a hole inthe center of each coin. "Look, boys, you can buy anything you like withthis money. You can do much more with this money than you can withthat poor tortoise. See what good boys you are to listen to me."

The boys were not bad boys at all, they were only mischievous, and asUrashima spoke they were won by his kind smile and gentle words andbegan "to be of his spirit," as they say in Japan. Gradually they all cameup to him, the ringleader of the little band holding out the tortoise tohim.

"Very well, Ojisan, we will give you the tortoise if you will give us themoney!" And Urashima took the tortoise and gave the money to theboys, who, calling to each other, scampered away and were soon out ofsight.

Then Urashima stroked the tortoise's back, saying as he did so:"Oh, you poor thing! Poor thing!there, there! you are safe now! They

say that a stork lives for a thousand years, but the tortoise for ten thou-sand years. You have the longest life of any creature in this world, andyou were in great danger of having that precious life cut short by thosecruel boys. Luckily I was passing by and saved you, and so life is stillyours. Now I am going to take you back to your home, the sea, at once.Do not let yourself be caught again, for there might be no one to saveyou next time!"

All the time that the kind fisherman was speaking he was walkingquickly to the shore and out upon the rocks; then putting the tortoise in-to the water he watched the animal disappear, and turned homewardshimself, for he was tired and the sun had set.

The next morning Urashima went out as usual in his boat. The weath-er was fine and the sea and sky were both blue and soft in the tenderhaze of the summer morning. Urashima got into his boat and dreamilypushed out to sea, throwing his line as he did so. He soon passed theother fishing boats and left them behind him till they were lost to sight inthe distance, and his boat drifted further and further out upon the bluewaters. Somehow, he knew not why, he felt unusually happy that morn-ing; and he could not help wishing that, like the tortoise he set free theday before, he had thousands of years to live instead of his own shortspan of human life.

He was suddenly startled from his reverie by hearing his own namecalled:

"Urashima, Urashima!"

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Clear as a bell and soft as the summer wind the name floated over thesea.

He stood up and looked in every direction, thinking that one of theother boats had overtaken him, but gaze as he might over the wide ex-panse of water, near or far there was no sign of a boat, so the voice couldnot have come from any human being.

Startled, and wondering who or what it was that had called him soclearly, he looked in all directions round about him and saw that withouthis knowing it a tortoise had come to the side of the boat. Urashima sawwith surprise that it was the very tortoise he had rescued the day before.

"Well, Mr. Tortoise," said Urashima, "was it you who called my namejust now?"

The tortoise nodded its head several times and said:"Yes, it was I. Yesterday in your honorable shadow (o kage sama de)

my life was saved, and I have come to offer you my thanks and to tellyou how grateful I am for your kindness to me."

"Indeed," said Urashima, "that is very polite of you. Come up into theboat. I would offer you a smoke, but as you are a tortoise doubtless youdo not smoke," and the fisherman laughed at the joke.

"He-he-he-he!" laughed the tortoise; "sake (rice wine) is my favorite re-freshment, but I do not care for tobacco."

"Indeed," said Urashima, "I regret very much that I have no "sake" inmy boat to offer you, but come up and dry your back in thesuntortoises always love to do that."

So the tortoise climbed into the boat, the fisherman helping him, andafter an exchange of complimentary speeches the tortoise said:

"Have you ever seen Rin Gin, the Palace of the Dragon King of the Sea,Urashima?"

The fisherman shook his head and replied; "No; year after year the seahas been my home, but though I have often heard of the Dragon King'srealm under the sea I have never yet set eyes on that wonderful place. Itmust be very far away, if it exists at all!"

"Is that really so? You have never seen the Sea King's Palace? Then youhave missed seeing one of the most wonderful sights in the whole uni-verse. It is far away at the bottom of the sea, but if I take you there weshall soon reach the place. If you would like to see the Sea King's land Iwill be your guide."

"I should like to go there, certainly, and you are very kind to think oftaking me, but you must remember that I am only a poor mortal andhave not the power of swimming like a sea creature such as you are"

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Before the fisherman could say more the tortoise stopped him, saying:"What? You need not swim yourself. If you will ride on my back I will

take you without any trouble on your part.""But," said Urashima, "how is it possible for me to ride on your small

back?""It may seem absurd to you, but I assure you that you can do so. Try at

once! Just come and get on my back, and see if it is as impossible as youthink!"

As the tortoise finished speaking, Urashima looked at its shell, andstrange to say he saw that the creature had suddenly grown so big that aman could easily sit on its back.

"This is strange indeed!" said Urashima; "then. Mr. Tortoise, with yourkind permission I will get on your back. Dokoisho!"2 he exclaimed as hejumped on.

The tortoise, with an unmoved face, as if this strange proceeding werequite an ordinary event, said:

"Now we will set out at our leisure," and with these words he leapt in-to the sea with Urashima on his back. Down through the water the tor-toise dived. For a long time these two strange companions rode throughthe sea. Urashima never grew tired, nor his clothes moist with the water.At last, far away in the distance a magnificent gate appeared, and behindthe gate, the long, sloping roofs of a palace on the horizon.

"Ya," exclaimed Urashima. "That looks like the gate of some largepalace just appearing! Mr. Tortoise, can you tell what that place is we cannow see?"

"That is the great gate of the Rin Gin Palace, the large roof that you seebehind the gate is the Sea King's Palace itself."

"Then we have at last come to the realm of the Sea King and to hisPalace," said Urashima.

"Yes, indeed," answered the tortoise, "and don't you think we havecome very quickly?" And while he was speaking the tortoise reached theside of the gate. "And here we are, and you must please walk from here."

The tortoise now went in front, and speaking to the gatekeeper, said:"This is Urashima Taro, from the country of Japan. I have had the hon-

or of bringing him as a visitor to this kingdom. Please show him theway."

Then the gatekeeper, who was a fish, at once led the way through thegate before them.

2."All right" (only used by lower classes).

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The red bream, the flounder, the sole, the cuttlefish, and all the chiefvassals of the Dragon King of the Sea now came out with courtly bows towelcome the stranger.

"Urashima Sama, Urashima Sama! welcome to the Sea Palace, thehome of the Dragon King of the Sea. Thrice welcome are you, havingcome from such a distant country. And you, Mr. Tortoise, we are greatlyindebted to you for all your trouble in bringing Urashima here." Then,turning again to Urashima, they said, "Please follow us this way," andfrom here the whole band of fishes became his guides.

Urashima, being only a poor fisher lad, did not know how to behave ina palace; but, strange though it was all to him, he did not feel ashamed orembarrassed, but followed his kind guides quite calmly where they ledto the inner palace. When he reached the portals a beautiful Princesswith her attendant maidens came out to welcome him. She was morebeautiful than any human being, and was robed in flowing garments ofred and soft green like the under side of a wave, and golden threadsglimmered through the folds of her gown. Her lovely black hairstreamed over her shoulders in the fashion of a king's daughter manyhundreds of years ago, and when she spoke her voice sounded like mu-sic over the water. Urashima was lost in wonder while he looked uponher, and he could not speak. Then he remembered that he ought to bow,but before he could make a low obeisance the Princess took him by thehand and led him to a beautiful hall, and to the seat of honor at the up-per end, and bade him be seated.

"Urashima Taro, it gives me the highest pleasure to welcome you tomy father's kingdom," said the Princess. "Yesterday you set free a tor-toise, and I have sent for you to thank you for saving my life, for I wasthat tortoise. Now if you like you shall live here forever in the land ofeternal youth, where summer never dies and where sorrow never comes,and I will be your bride if you will, and we will live together happilyforever afterwards!"

And as Urashima listened to her sweet words and gazed upon herlovely face his heart was filled with a great wonder and joy, and heanswered her, wondering if it was not all a dream:

"Thank you a thousand times for your kind speech. There is nothing Icould wish for more than to be permitted to stay here with you in thisbeautiful land, of which I have often heard, but have never seen to thisday. Beyond all words, this is the most wonderful place I have everseen."

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While he was speaking a train of fishes appeared, all dressed in cere-monial, trailing garments. One by one, silently and with stately steps,they entered the hall, bearing on coral trays delicacies of fish and sea-weed, such as no one can dream of, and this wondrous feast was set be-fore the bride and bridegroom. The bridal was celebrated with dazzlingsplendor, and in the Sea King's realm there was great rejoicing. As soonas the young pair had pledged themselves in the wedding cup of wine,three times three, music was played, and songs were sung, and fisheswith silver scales and golden tails stepped in from the waves anddanced. Urashima enjoyed himself with all his heart. Never in his wholelife had he sat down to such a marvelous feast.

When the feast was over the Princes asked the bridegroom if he wouldlike to walk through the palace and see all there was to be seen. Then thehappy fisherman, following his bride, the Sea King's daughter, wasshown all the wonders of that enchanted land where youth and joy gohand in hand and neither time nor age can touch them. The palace wasbuilt of coral and adorned with pearls, and the beauties and wonders ofthe place were so great that the tongue fails to describe them.

But, to Urashima, more wonderful than the palace was the garden thatsurrounded it. Here was to be seen at one time the scenery of the fourdifferent seasons; the beauties of summer and winter, spring and au-tumn, were displayed to the wondering visitor at once.

First, when he looked to the east, the plum and cherry trees were seenin full bloom, the nightingales sang in the pink avenues, and butterfliesflitted from flower to flower.

Looking to the south all the trees were green in the fullness of sum-mer, and the day cicala and the night cricket chirruped loudly.

Looking to the west the autumn maples were ablaze like a sunset sky,and the chrysanthemums were in perfection.

Looking to the north the change made Urashima start, for the groundwas silver white with snow, and trees and bamboos were also coveredwith snow and the pond was thick with ice.

And each day there were new joys and new wonders for Urashima,and so great was his happiness that he forgot everything, even the homehe had left behind and his parents and his own country, and three dayspassed without his even thinking of all he had left behind. Then his mindcame back to him and he remembered who he was, and that he did notbelong to this wonderful land or the Sea King's palace, and he said tohimself:

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"O dear! I must not stay on here, for I have an old father and mother athome. What can have happened to them all this time? How anxious theymust have been these days when I did not return as usual. I must goback at once without letting one more day pass." And he began to pre-pare for the journey in great haste.

Then he went to his beautiful wife, the Princess, and bowing low be-fore her he said:

"Indeed, I have been very happy with you for a long time, OtohimeSama" (for that was her name), "and you have been kinder to me thanany words can tell. But now I must say good-by. I must go back to myold parents."

Then Otohime Sama began to weep, and said softly and sadly:"Is it not well with you here, Urashima, that you wish to leave me so

soon? Where is the haste? Stay with me yet another day only!"But Urashima had remembered his old parents, and in Japan the duty

to parents is stronger than everything else, stronger even than pleasureor love, and he would not be persuaded, but answered:

"Indeed, I must go. Do not think that I wish to leave you. It is not that.I must go and see my old parents. Let me go for one day and I will comeback to you."

"Then," said the Princess sorrowfully, "there is nothing to be done. Iwill send you back to-day to your father and mother, and instead of try-ing to keep you with me one more day, I shall give you this as a token ofour loveplease take it back with you;" and she brought him a beautifullacquer box tied about with a silken cord and tassels of red silk.

Urashima had received so much from the Princess already that he feltsome compunction in taking the gift, and said:

"It does not seem right for me to take yet another gift from you after allthe many favors I have received at your hands, but because it is yourwish I will do so," and then he added:

"Tell me what is this box?""That," answered the Princess "is the tamate-bako (Box of the Jewel

Hand), and it contains something very precious. You must not open thisbox, whatever happens! If you open it something dreadful will happento you! Now promise me that you will never open this box!"

And Urashima promised that he would never, never open the boxwhatever happened.

Then bidding good-by to Otohime Sama he went down to the sea-shore, the Princess and her attendants following him, and there he founda large tortoise waiting for him.

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He quickly mounted the creature's back and was carried away overthe shining sea into the East. He looked back to wave his hand to Oto-hime Sama till at last he could see her no more, and the land of the SeaKing and the roofs of the wonderful palace were lost in the far, far dis-tance. Then, with his face turned eagerly towards his own land, helooked for the rising of the blue hills on the horizon before him.

At last the tortoise carried him into the bay he knew so well, and to theshore from whence he had set out. He stepped on to the shore andlooked about him while the tortoise rode away back to the Sea King'srealm.

But what is the strange fear that seizes Urashima as he stands andlooks about him? Why does he gaze so fixedly at the people that passhim by, and why do they in turn stand and look at him? The shore is thesame and the hills are the same, but the people that he sees walking pasthim have very different faces to those he had known so well before.

Wondering what it can mean he walks quickly towards his old home.Even that looks different, but a house stands on the spot, and he callsout:

"Father, I have just returned!" and he was about to enter, when he sawa strange man coming out.

"Perhaps my parents have moved while I have been away, and havegone somewhere else," was the fisherman's thought. Somehow he beganto feel strangely anxious, he could not tell why.

"Excuse me," said he to the man who was staring at him, "but till with-in the last few days I have lived in this house. My name is UrashimaTaro. Where have my parents gone whom I left here?"

A very bewildered expression came over the face of the man, and, stillgazing intently on Urashima's face, he said:

"What? Are you Urashima Taro?""Yes," said the fisherman, "I am Urashima Taro!""Ha, ha!" laughed the man, "you must not make such jokes. It is true

that once upon a time a man called Urashima Taro did live in this vil-lage, but that is a story three hundred years old. He could not possiblybe alive now!"

When Urashima heard these strange words he was frightened, andsaid:

"Please, please, you must not joke with me, I am greatly perplexed. Iam really Urashima Taro, and I certainly have not lived three hundredyears. Till four or five days ago I lived on this spot. Tell me what I wantto know without more joking, please."

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But the man's face grew more and more grave, and he answered:"You may or may not be Urashima Taro, I don't know. But the Urashi-

ma Taro of whom I have heard is a man who lived three hundred yearsago. Perhaps you are his spirit come to revisit your old home?"

"Why do you mock me?" said Urashima. "I am no spirit! I am a livingmando you not see my feet;" and "don-don," he stamped on theground, first with one foot and then with the other to show the man.(Japanese ghosts have no feet.)

"But Urashima Taro lived three hundred years ago, that is all I know; itis written in the village chronicles," persisted the man, who could not be-lieve what the fisherman said.

Urashima was lost in bewilderment and trouble. He stood looking allaround him, terribly puzzled, and, indeed, something in the appearanceof everything was different to what he remembered before he wentaway, and the awful feeling came over him that what the man said wasperhaps true. He seemed to be in a strange dream. The few days he hadspent in the Sea King's palace beyond the sea had not been days at all:they had been hundreds of years, and in that time his parents had diedand all the people he had ever known, and the village had written downhis story. There was no use in staying here any longer. He must get backto his beautiful wife beyond the sea.

He made his way back to the beach, carrying in his hand the boxwhich the Princess had given him. But which was the way? He could notfind it alone! Suddenly he remembered the box, the tamate-bako.

"The Princess told me when she gave me the box never to openitthat it contained a very precious thing. But now that I have no home,now that I have lost everything that was dear to me here, and my heartgrows thin with sadness, at such a time, if I open the box, surely I shallfind something that will help me, something that will show me the wayback to my beautiful Princess over the sea. There is nothing else for meto do now. Yes, yes, I will open the box and look in!"

And so his heart consented to this act of disobedience, and he tried topersuade himself that he was doing the right thing in breaking hispromise.

Slowly, very slowly, he untied the red silk cord, slowly and wonder-ingly he lifted the lid of the precious box. And what did he find? Strangeto say only a beautiful little purple cloud rose out of the box in three softwisps. For an instant it covered his face and wavered over him as if loathto go, and then it floated away like vapor over the sea.

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Urashima, who had been till that moment like a strong and handsomeyouth of twenty-four, suddenly became very, very old. His back doubledup with age, his hair turned snowy white, his face wrinkled and he felldown dead on the beach.

Poor Urashima! because of his disobedience he could never return tothe Sea King's realm or the lovely Princess beyond the sea.

Little children, never be disobedient to those who are wiser than youfor disobedience was the beginning of all the miseries and sorrows oflife.

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THE FARMER AND THE BADGER

Long, long ago, there lived an old farmer and his wife who had madetheir home in the mountains, far from any town. Their only neighborwas a bad and malicious badger. This badger used to come out everynight and run across to the farmer's field and spoil the vegetables andthe rice which the farmer spent his time in carefully cultivating. Thebadger at last grew so ruthless in his mischievous work, and did somuch harm everywhere on the farm, that the good-natured farmer couldnot stand it any longer, and determined to put a stop to it. So he lay inwait day after day and night after night, with a big club, hoping to catchthe badger, but all in vain. Then he laid traps for the wicked animal.

The farmer's trouble and patience was rewarded, for one fine day ongoing his rounds he found the badger caught in a hole he had dug forthat purpose. The farmer was delighted at having caught his enemy, andcarried him home securely bound with rope. When he reached the housethe farmer said to his wife:

"I have at last caught the bad badger. You must keep an eye on himwhile I am out at work and not let him escape, because I want to makehim into soup to-night."

Saying this, he hung the badger up to the rafters of his storehouse andwent out to his work in the fields. The badger was in great distress, forhe did not at all like the idea of being made into soup that night, and hethought and thought for a long time, trying to hit upon some plan bywhich he might escape. It was hard to think clearly in his uncomfortableposition, for he had been hung upside down. Very near him, at the en-trance to the storehouse, looking out towards the green fields and thetrees and the pleasant sunshine, stood the farmer's old wife poundingbarley. She looked tired and old. Her face was seamed with manywrinkles, and was as brown as leather, and every now and then shestopped to wipe the perspiration which rolled down her face.

"Dear lady," said the wily badger, "you must be very weary doing suchheavy work in your old age. Won't you let me do that for you? My armsare very strong, and I could relieve you for a little while!"

"Thank you for your kindness," said the old woman, "but I cannot letyou do this work for me because I must not untie you, for you might es-cape if I did, and my husband would be very angry if he came home andfound you gone."

Now, the badger is one of the most cunning of animals, and he saidagain in a very sad, gentle, voice:

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"You are very unkind. You might untie me, for I promise not to try toescape. If you are afraid of your husband, I will let you bind me againbefore his return when I have finished pounding the barley. I am so tiredand sore tied up like this. If you would only let me down for a fewminutes I would indeed be thankful!"

The old woman had a good and simple nature, and could not thinkbadly of any one. Much less did she think that the badger was only de-ceiving her in order to get away. She felt sorry, too, for the animal as sheturned to look at him. He looked in such a sad plight hanging down-wards from the ceiling by his legs, which were all tied together so tightlythat the rope and the knots were cutting into the skin. So in the kindnessof her heart, and believing the creature's promise that he would not runaway, she untied the cord and let him down.

The old woman then gave him the wooden pestle and told him to dothe work for a short time while she rested. He took the pestle, but insteadof doing the work as he was told, the badger at once sprang upon the oldwoman and knocked her down with the heavy piece of wood. He thenkilled her and cut her up and made soup of her, and waited for the re-turn of the old farmer. The old man worked hard in his fields all day,and as he worked he thought with pleasure that no more now would hislabor be spoiled by the destructive badger.

Towards sunset he left his work and turned to go home. He was verytired, but the thought of the nice supper of hot badger soup awaiting hisreturn cheered him. The thought that the badger might get free and takerevenge on the poor old woman never once came into his mind.

The badger meanwhile assumed the old woman's form, and as soon ashe saw the old farmer approaching came out to greet him on the verandaof the little house, saying:

"So you have come back at last. I have made the badger soup and havebeen waiting for you for a long time."

The old farmer quickly took off his straw sandals and sat down beforehis tiny dinner-tray. The innocent man never even dreamed that it wasnot his wife but the badger who was waiting upon him, and asked atonce for the soup. Then the badger suddenly transformed himself backto his natural form and cried out:

"You wife-eating old man! Look out for the bones in the kitchen!"Laughing loudly and derisively he escaped out of the house and ran

away to his den in the hills. The old man was left behind alone. He couldhardly believe what he had seen and heard. Then when he understoodthe whole truth he was so scared and horrified that he fainted right

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away. After a while he came round and burst into tears. He cried loudlyand bitterly. He rocked himself to and fro in his hopeless grief. It seemedtoo terrible to be real that his faithful old wife had been killed andcooked by the badger while he was working quietly in the fields, know-ing nothing of what was going on at home, and congratulating himselfon having once for all got rid of the wicked animal who had so oftenspoiled his fields. And oh! the horrible thought; he had very nearlydrunk the soup which the creature had made of his poor old woman."Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!" he wailed aloud. Now, not far away therelived in the same mountain a kind, good-natured old rabbit. He heardthe old man crying and sobbing and at once set out to see what was thematter, and if there was anything he could do to help his neighbor. Theold man told him all that had happened. When the rabbit heard the storyhe was very angry at the wicked and deceitful badger, and told the oldman to leave everything to him and he would avenge his wife's death.The farmer was at last comforted, and, wiping away his tears, thankedthe rabbit for his goodness in coming to him in his distress.

The rabbit, seeing that the farmer was growing calmer, went back tohis home to lay his plans for the punishment of the badger.

The next day the weather was fine, and the rabbit went out to find thebadger. He was not to be seen in the woods or on the hillside or in thefields anywhere, so the rabbit went to his den and found the badger hid-ing there, for the animal had been afraid to show himself ever since hehad escaped from the farmer's house, for fear of the old man's wrath.

The rabbit called out:"Why are you not out on such a beautiful day? Come out with me, and

we will go and cut grass on the hills together."The badger, never doubting but that the rabbit was his friend, will-

ingly consented to go out with him, only too glad to get away from theneighborhood of the farmer and the fear of meeting him. The rabbit ledthe way miles away from their homes, out on the hills where the grassgrew tall and thick and sweet. They both set to work to cut down asmuch as they could carry home, to store it up for their winter's food.When they had each cut down all they wanted they tied it in bundlesand then started homewards, each carrying his bundle of grass on hisback. This time the rabbit made the badger go first.

When they had gone a little way the rabbit took out a flint and steel,and, striking it over the badger's back as he stepped along in front, sethis bundle of grass on fire. The badger heard the flint striking, andasked:

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"What is that noise. 'Crack, crack'?""Oh, that is nothing." replied the rabbit; "I only said 'Crack, crack' be-

cause this mountain is called Crackling Mountain."The fire soon spread in the bundle of dry grass on the badger's back.

The badger, hearing the crackle of the burning grass, asked, "What isthat?"

"Now we have come to the 'Burning Mountain,'" answered the rabbit.By this time the bundle was nearly burned out and all the hair had

been burned off the badger's back. He now knew what had happened bythe smell of the smoke of the burning grass. Screaming with pain thebadger ran as fast as he could to his hole. The rabbit followed and foundhim lying on his bed groaning with pain.

"What an unlucky fellow you are!" said the rabbit. "I can't imagine howthis happened! I will bring you some medicine which will heal your backquickly!"

The rabbit went away glad and smiling to think that the punishmentupon the badger had already begun. He hoped that the badger woulddie of his burns, for he felt that nothing could be too bad for the animal,who was guilty of murdering a poor helpless old woman who had trus-ted him. He went home and made an ointment by mixing some sauceand red pepper together.

He carried this to the badger, but before putting it on he told him thatit would cause him great pain, but that he must bear it patiently, becauseit was a very wonderful medicine for burns and scalds and suchwounds. The badger thanked him and begged him to apply it at once.But no language can describe the agony of the badger as soon as the redpepper had been pasted all over his sore back. He rolled over and overand howled loudly. The rabbit, looking on, felt that the farmer's wife wasbeginning to be avenged.

The badger was in bed for about a month; but at last, in spite of the redpepper application, his burns healed and he got well. When the rabbitsaw that the badger was getting well, he thought of another plan bywhich he could compass the creature's death. So he went one day to paythe badger a visit and to congratulate him on his recovery.

During the conversation the rabbit mentioned that he was going fish-ing, and described how pleasant fishing was when the weather was fineand the sea smooth.

The badger listened with pleasure to the rabbit's account of the way hepassed his time now, and forgot all his pains and his month's illness, andthought what fun it would be if he could go fishing too; so he asked the

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rabbit if he would take him the next time he went out to fish. This wasjust what the rabbit wanted, so he agreed.

Then he went home and built two boats, one of wood and the other ofclay. At last they were both finished, and as the rabbit stood and lookedat his work he felt that all his trouble would be well rewarded if his plansucceeded, and he could manage to kill the wicked badger now.

The day came when the rabbit had arranged to take the badger fishing.He kept the wooden boat himself and gave the badger the clay boat. Thebadger, who knew nothing about boats, was delighted with his new boatand thought how kind it was of the rabbit to give it to him. They bothgot into their boats and set out. After going some distance from the shorethe rabbit proposed that they should try their boats and see which onecould go the quickest. The badger fell in with the proposal, and theyboth set to work to row as fast as they could for some time. In the middleof the race the badger found his boat going to pieces, for the water nowbegan to soften the clay. He cried out in great fear to the rabbit to helphim. But the rabbit answered that he was avenging the old woman'smurder, and that this had been his intention all along, and that he washappy to think that the badger had at last met his deserts for all his evilcrimes, and was to drown with no one to help him. Then he raised hisoar and struck at the badger with all his strength till he fell with the sink-ing clay boat and was seen no more.

Thus at last he kept his promise to the old farmer. The rabbit nowturned and rowed shorewards, and having landed and pulled his boatupon the beach, hurried back to tell the old farmer everything, and howthe badger, his enemy, had been killed.

The old farmer thanked him with tears in his eyes. He said that tillnow he could never sleep at night or be at peace in the daytime, thinkingof how his wife's death was unavenged, but from this time he would beable to sleep and eat as of old. He begged the rabbit to stay with him andshare his home, so from this day the rabbit went to stay with the oldfarmer and they both lived together as good friends to the end of theirdays.

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THE SHINANSHA, OR THE SOUTH POINTINGCARRIAGE.

The compass, with its needle always pointing to the North, is quite acommon thing, and no one thinks that it is remarkable now, thoughwhen it was first invented it must have been a wonder.

Now long ago in China, there was a still more wonderful inventioncalled the shinansha. This was a kind of chariot with the figure of a manon it always pointing to the South. No matter how the chariot was placedthe figure always wheeled about and pointed to the South.

This curious instrument was invented by Kotei, one of the threeChinese Emperors of the Mythological age. Kotei was the son of the Em-peror Yuhi. Before he was born his mother had a vision which foretoldthat her son would be a great man.

One summer evening she went out to walk in the meadows to seek thecool breezes which blow at the end of the day and to gaze with pleasureat the star-lit heavens above her. As she looked at the North Star, strangeto relate, it shot forth vivid flashes of lightning in every direction. Soonafter this her son Kotei came into the world.

Kotei in time grew to manhood and succeeded his father the EmperorYuhi. His early reign was greatly troubled by the rebel Shiyu. This rebelwanted to make himself King, and many were the battles which hefought to this end. Shiyu was a wicked magician, his head was made ofiron, and there was no man that could conquer him.

At last Kotei declared war against the rebel and led his army to battle,and the two armies met on a plain called Takuroku. The Emperor boldlyattacked the enemy, but the magician brought down a dense fog uponthe battlefield, and while the royal army were wandering about in confu-sion, trying to find their way, Shiyu retreated with his troops, laughingat having fooled the royal army.

No matter however strong and brave the Emperor's soldiers were, therebel with his magic could always escape in the end.

Kotei returned to his Palace, and thought and pondered deeply as tohow he should conquer the magician, for he was determined not to giveup yet. After a long time he invented the shinansha with the figure of aman always pointing South, for there were no compasses in those days.With this instrument to show him the way he need not fear the densefogs raised up by the magician to confound his men.

Kotei again declared war against Shiyu. He placed the shinansha infront of his army and led the way to the battlefield.

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The battle began in earnest. The rebel was being driven backward bythe royal troops when he again resorted to magic, and upon his sayingsome strange words in a loud voice, immediately a dense fog came downupon the battlefield.

But this time no soldier minded the fog, not one was confused. Koteiby pointing to the shinansha could find his way and directed the armywithout a single mistake. He closely pursued the rebel army and drovethem backward till they came to a big river. This river Kotei and his menfound was swollen by the floods and impossible to cross.

Shiyu by using his magic art quickly passed over with his army andshut himself up in a fortress on the opposite bank.

When Kotei found his march checked he was wild with disappoint-ment, for he had very nearly overtaken the rebel when the river stoppedhim.

He could do nothing, for there were no boats in those days, so the Em-peror ordered his tent to be pitched in the pleasantest spot that the placeafforded.

One day he stepped forth from his tent and after walking about for ashort time he came to a pond. Here he sat down on the bank and was lostin thought.

It was autumn. The trees growing along the edge of the water wereshedding their leaves, which floated hither and thither on the surface ofthe pond. By and by, Kotei's attention was attracted to a spider on thebrink of the water. The little insect was trying to get on to one of thefloating leaves near by. It did so at last, and was soon floating over thewater to the other side of the pond.

This little incident made the clever Emperor think that he might try tomake something that could carry himself and his men over the river inthe same way that the leaf had carried over the spider. He set to workand persevered till he invented the first boat. When he found that it wasa success he set all his men to make more, and in time there were enoughboats for the whole army.

Kotei now took his army across the river, and attacked Shiyu'sheadquarters. He gained a complete victory, and so put an end to thewar which had troubled his country for so long.

This wise and good Emperor did not rest till he had secured peace andprosperity throughout his whole land. He was beloved by his subjects,who now enjoyed their happiness of peace for many long years underhim. He spent a great deal of time in making inventions which would

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benefit his people, and he succeeded in many besides the boat and theSouth Pointing shinansha.

He had reigned about a hundred years when one day, as Kotei waslooking upwards, the sky became suddenly red, and something cameglittering like gold towards the earth. As it came nearer Kotei saw that itwas a great Dragon. The Dragon approached and bowed down its headbefore the Emperor. The Empress and the courtiers were so frightenedthat they ran away screaming.

But the Emperor only smiled and called to them to stop, and said:"Do not be afraid. This is a messenger from Heaven. My time here is

finished!" He then mounted the Dragon, which began to ascend towardsthe sky.

When the Empress and the courtiers saw this they all cried outtogether:

"Wait a moment! We wish to come too." And they all ran and caughthold of the Dragon's beard and tried to mount him.

But it was impossible for so many people to ride on the Dragon. Sever-al of them hung on to the creature's beard so that when it tried to mountthe hair was pulled out and they fell to the ground.

Meanwhile the Empress and a few of the courtiers were safely seatedon the Dragon's back. The Dragon flew up so high in the heavens that ina short time the inmates of the Palace, who had been left behind disap-pointed, could see them no more.

After some time a bow and an arrow dropped to the earth in the court-yard of the Palace. They were recognized as having belonged to the Em-peror Kotei. The courtiers took them up carefully and preserved them assacred relics in the Palace.

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THE ADVENTURES OF KINTARO, THE GOLDEN BOY.

Long, long ago there lived in Kyoto a brave soldier named Kintoki. Nowhe fell in love with a beautiful lady and married her. Not long after this,through the malice of some of his friends, he fell into disgrace at Courtand was dismissed. This misfortune so preyed upon his mind that he didnot long survive his dismissalhe died, leaving behind him his beautifulyoung wife to face the world alone. Fearing her husband's enemies, shefled to the Ashigara Mountains as soon as her husband was dead, andthere in the lonely forests where no one ever came except woodcutters, alittle boy was born to her. She called him Kintaro or the Golden Boy.Now the remarkable thing about this child was his great strength, and ashe grew older he grew stronger and stronger, so that by the time he waseight years of age he was able to cut down trees as quickly as the wood-cutters. Then his mother gave him a large ax, and he used to go out inthe forest and help the woodcutters, who called him "Wonder-child," andhis mother the "Old Nurse of the Mountains," for they did not know herhigh rank. Another favorite pastime of Kintaro's was to smash up rocksand stones. You can imagine how strong he was!

Quite unlike other boys, Kintaro, grew up all alone in the mountainwilds, and as he had no companions he made friends with all the anim-als and learned to understand them and to speak their strange talk. Bydegrees they all grew quite tame and looked upon Kintaro as their mas-ter, and he used them as his servants and messengers. But his special re-tainers were the bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare.

The bear often brought her cubs for Kintaro to romp with, and whenshe came to take them home Kintaro would get on her back and have aride to her cave. He was very fond of the deer too, and would often puthis arms round the creature's neck to show that its long horns did notfrighten him. Great was the fun they all had together.

One day, as usual, Kintaro went up into the mountains, followed bythe bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare. After walking for sometime up hill and down dale and over rough roads, they suddenly cameout upon a wide and grassy plain covered with pretty wild flowers.

Here, indeed, was a nice place where they could all have a good romptogether. The deer rubbed his horns against a tree for pleasure, the mon-key scratched his back, the hare smoothed his long ears, and the beargave a grunt of satisfaction.

Kintaro said, "Here is a place for a good game. What do you all say toa wrestling match?"

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The bear being the biggest and the oldest, answered for the others:"That will be great fun," said she. "I am the strongest animal, so I will

make the platform for the wrestlers;" and she set to work with a will todig up the earth and to pat it into shape.

"All right," said Kintaro, "I will look on while you all wrestle with eachother. I shall give a prize to the one who wins in each round."

"What fun! we shall all try to get the prize," said the bear.The deer, the monkey and the hare set to work to help the bear raise

the platform on which they were all to wrestle. When this was finished,Kintaro cried out:

"Now begin! the monkey and the hare shall open the sports and thedeer shall be umpire. Now, Mr. Deer, you are to be umpire!"

"He, he!" answered the deer. "I will be umpire. Now, Mr. Monkey andMr. Hare, if you are both ready, please walk out and take your places onthe platform."

Then the monkey and the hare both hopped out, quickly and nimbly,to the wrestling platform. The deer, as umpire, stood between the twoand called out:

"Red-back! Red-back!" (this to the monkey, who has a red back inJapan). "Are you ready?"

Then he turned to the hare:"Long-ears! Long-ears! are you ready?"Both the little wrestlers faced each other while the deer raised a leaf on

high as signal. When he dropped the leaf the monkey and the harerushed upon each other, crying "Yoisho, yoisho!"

While the monkey and the hare wrestled, the deer called out encour-agingly or shouted warnings to each of them as the hare or the monkeypushed each other near the edge of the platform and were in danger offalling over.

"Red-back! Red-back! stand your ground!" called out the deer."Long-ears! Long-ears! be strong, be strongdon't let the monkey beat

you!" grunted the bear.So the monkey and the hare, encouraged by their friends, tried their

very hardest to beat each other. The hare at last gained on the monkey.The monkey seemed to trip up, and the hare giving him a good pushsent him flying off the platform with a bound.

The poor monkey sat up rubbing his back, and his face was very longas he screamed angrily. "Oh, oh! how my back hurtsmy back hurtsme!"

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Seeing the monkey in this plight on the ground, the deer holding hisleaf on high said:

"This round is finishedthe hare has won."Kintaro then opened his luncheon box and taking out a rice-dumpling,

gave it to the hare saying:"Here is your prize, and you have earned, it well!"Now the monkey got up looking very cross, and as they say in Japan

"his stomach stood up," for he felt that he had not been fairly beaten. Sohe said to Kintaro and the others who were standing by:

"I have not been fairly beaten. My foot slipped and I tumbled. Pleasegive me another chance and let the hare wrestle with me for anotherround."

Then Kintaro consenting, the hare and the monkey began to wrestleagain. Now, as every one knows, the monkey is a cunning animal bynature, and he made up his mind to get the best of the hare this time if itwere possible. To do this, he thought that the best and surest way wouldbe to get hold of the hare's long ear. This he soon managed to do. Thehare was quite thrown off his guard by the pain of having his long earpulled so hard, and the monkey seizing his opportunity at last, caughthold of one of the hare's legs and sent him sprawling in the middle of thedais. The monkey was now the victor and received, a rice-dumplingfrom Kintaro, which pleased him so much that he quite forgot his soreback.

The deer now came up and asked the hare if he felt ready for anotherround, and if so whether he would try a round with him, and the hareconsenting, they both stood up to wrestle. The bear came forward asumpire.

The deer with long horns and the hare with long ears, it must havebeen an amusing sight to those who watched this queer match. Suddenlythe deer went down on one of his knees, and the bear with the leaf onhigh declared him beaten. In this way, sometimes the one, sometimes theother, conquering, the little party amused themselves till they were tired.

At last Kintaro got up and said:"This is enough for to-day. What a nice place we have found for wrest-

ling; let us come again to-morrow. Now, we will all go home. Comealong!" So saying, Kintaro led the way while the animals followed.

After walking some little distance they came out on the banks of ariver flowing through a valley. Kintaro and his four furry friends stoodand looked about for some means of crossing. Bridge there was none.

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The river rushed "don, don" on its way. All the animals looked serious,wondering how they could cross the stream and get home that evening.

Kintaro, however, said:"Wait a moment. I will make a good bridge for you all in a few

minutes."The bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare looked at him to see what

he would do now.Kintaro went from one tree to another that grew along the river bank.

At last he stopped in front of a very large tree that was growing at thewater's edge. He took hold of the trunk and pulled it with all his might,once, twice, thrice! At the third pull, so great was Kintaro's strength thatthe roots gave way, and "meri, meri" (crash, crash), over fell the tree,forming an excellent bridge across the stream.

"There," said Kintaro, "what do you think of my bridge? It is quite safe,so follow me," and he stepped across first. The four animals followed.Never had they seen any one so strong before, and they all exclaimed:

"How strong he is! how strong he is!"While all this was going on by the river a woodcutter, who happened

to be standing on a rock overlooking the stream, had seen all that passedbeneath him. He watched with great surprise Kintaro and his animalcompanions. He rubbed his eyes to be sure that he was not dreamingwhen he saw this boy pull over a tree by the roots and throw it across thestream to form a bridge.

The woodcutter, for such he seemed to be by his dress, marveled at allhe saw, and said to himself:

"This is no ordinary child. Whose son can he be? I will find out beforethis day is done."

He hastened after the strange party and crossed the bridge behindthem. Kintaro knew nothing of all this, and little guessed that he was be-ing followed. On reaching the other side of the river he and the animalsseparated, they to their lairs in the woods and he to his mother, who waswaiting for him.

As soon as he entered the cottage, which stood like a matchbox in theheart of the pine-woods, he went to greet his mother, saying:

"Okkasan (mother), here I am!""O, Kimbo!" said his mother with a bright smile, glad to see her boy

home safe after the long day. "How late you are to-day. I feared thatsomething had happened to you. Where have you been all the time?"

"I took my four friends, the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare,up into the hills, and there I made them try a wrestling match, to see

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which was the strongest. We all enjoyed the sport, and are going to thesame place to-morrow to have another match."

"Now tell me who is the strongest of all?" asked his mother, pretend-ing not to know.

"Oh, mother," said Kintaro, "don't you know that I am the strongest?There was no need for me to wrestle with any of them."

"But next to you then, who is the strongest?""The bear comes next to me in strength," answered Kintaro."And after the bear?" asked his mother again."Next to the bear it is not easy to say which is the strongest, for the

deer, the monkey, and the hare all seem to be as strong as each other,"said Kintaro.

Suddenly Kintaro and his mother were startled by a voice fromoutside.

"Listen to me, little boy! Next time you go, take this old man with youto the wrestling match. He would like to join the sport too!"

It was the old woodcutter who had followed Kintaro from the river.He slipped off his clogs and entered the cottage. Yama-uba and her sonwere both taken by surprise. They looked at the intruder wonderinglyand saw that he was some one they had never seen before.

"Who are you?" they both exclaimed.Then the woodcutter laughed and said:"It does not matter who I am yet, but let us see who has the strongest

armthis boy or myself?"Then Kintaro, who had lived all his life in the forest, answered the old

man without any ceremony, saying:"We will have a try if you wish it, but you must not be angry whoever

is beaten."Then Kintaro and the woodcutter both put out their right arms and

grasped each other's hands. For a long time Kintaro and the old manwrestled together in this way, each trying to bend the other's arm, butthe old man was very strong, and the strange pair were evenly matched.At last the old man desisted, declaring it a drawn game.

"You are, indeed, a very strong child. There are few men who canboast of the strength of my right arm!" said the woodcutter. "I saw youfirst on the hanks of the river a few hours ago, when you pulled up thatlarge tree to make a bridge across the torrent. Hardly able to believewhat I saw I followed you home. Your strength of arm, which I have justtried, proves what I saw this afternoon. When you are full-grown you

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will surely be the strongest man in all Japan. It is a pity that you are hid-den away in these wild mountains."

Then he turned to Kintaro's mother:"And you, mother, have you no thought of taking your child to the

Capital, and of teaching him to carry a sword as befits a samurai (aJapanese knight)?"

"You are very kind to take so much interest in my son." replied themother; "but he is as you see, wild and uneducated, and I fear it wouldbe very difficult to do as you say. Because of his great strength as an in-fant I hid him away in this unknown part of the country, for he hurtevery one that came near him. I have often wished that I could, one day,see my boy a knight wearing two swords, but as we have no influentialfriend to introduce us at the Capital, I fear my hope will never cometrue."

"You need not trouble yourself about that. To tell you the truth I am nowoodcutter! I am one of the great generals of Japan. My name is Sadam-itsu, and I am a vassal of the powerful Lord Minamoto-no-Raiko. Heordered me to go round the country and look for boys who give promiseof remarkable strength, so that they may be trained as soldiers for hisarmy. I thought that I could best do this by assuming the disguise of awoodcutter. By good fortune, I have thus unexpectedly come across yourson. Now if you really wish him to be a SAMURAI (a knight), I will takehim and present him to the Lord Raiko as a candidate for his service.What do you say to this?"

As the kind general gradually unfolded his plan the mother's heartwas filled with a great joy. She saw that here was a wonderful chance ofthe one wish of her life being fulfilledthat of seeing Kintaro aSAMURAI before she died.

Bowing her head to the ground, she replied:"I will then intrust my son to you if you really mean what you say."Kintaro had all this time been sitting by his mother's side listening to

what they said. When his mother finished speaking, he exclaimed:"Oh, joy! joy! I am to go wi